Why some people lose their accents but others don't - linguistic expert [View all]

The way a person speaks is an intrinsic part of their identity. It’s tribal, marking a speaker as being from one social group or another. Accents are a sign of belonging as much as something that separates communities.

Yet we can probably all think of examples of people who seem to have “lost” their regional or national accent and of others whose accent stays firmly in place.

Given the personal and social importance of how someone speaks, why would anyone’s accent change?

You may think of your accent as a physical part of who you are — but a conscious or subconscious desire to fit in can influence the way you speak, whether you want it to or not. Research has shown a person’s accent will move towards that of the group of speakers with which they identify at some stage in their lives. Accents are a fluid feature of speech. If someone moves from Australia to the U.S. to work, for example, they will probably at least modify their accent, either consciously or unconsciously.

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